Drive for Commercial Desertification in Mountain Areas: Evidence from the Province of Sondrio (Italy), 2010–2022

Compared to other developed economies, Italy is generally characterised by a more fragmented retail sector; however, this feature has decreased significantly since the 2000s. The advancement of high-volume retailers and e-commerce has pushed many small – and often independent – retailers out of the market, as they have been unable to cope with increased competition or intercept new consumer demand. Thus, between 2000 and 2022, the density of the commercial selection decreased in terms of both the number of enterprises per 1000 inhabitants (from 10.2 to 7.5) and the number of shops per 1000 inhabitants (from 15.3 to 12.1) (ISTAT data, Annual Report). The victims of the increasing concentration of the distribution system are mainly small shops scattered in peripheral urban neighbourhoods and low-density settlements, which constitute an important service for less mobile segments of the population (Crowley, Stainback 2019). The more concentration grows, the more a few polarities impose themselves in retail landscapes, with city-centre high streets and large retail shops located in suburban areas playing a leading role (Gibbs 2012, Cirelli et al. 2021). With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which required long lockdown periods and restricted individual freedoms, the importance of ‘down-home’ shops was rediscovered as one of the ingredients in the ‘15-minute city’, which many experts believe to be a more sustainable model (Moreno et al. 2021, Zaheer et al. 2023). However, with the end of the health emergency, the erosion of commercial proximity continued apace. Confcommercio (2023) – the largest trade association in Italy – emphasises that commercial desertification is increasing, which is a major problem not only for businesses, but also for society as a whole, as it means fewer services for local communities along with less liveability and security. This is just the opposite of what was foreshadowed by Italian Legislative Decree 114/1998 which, while liberalising the distribution sector, aimed to protect small neighbourhood retailers, especially in fragile situations, through multi-purpose shops offering a mix of various services.

Commercial rarefaction is a major problem, not only in urban areas, but also in rural ones. In rural areas, the disappearance of shops is part of a broader process of downsizing services of general interest (SGI) that affects the vitality of local communities and fuels territorial gaps. Just like many other small things of everyday life, the value of shops is not only economic; they are places for socialising – ‘third spaces’ – and their presence influences individuals’ decision to migrate or not (Karlsson 2012, Fertner et al. 2015, Cabras, Lau 2019).

Starting with this premise, this paper investigates the process of commercial retail rarefaction in the province of Sondrio, a small stretch of land in the Alps on the border between Italy and Switzerland. According to the OECD classification, it is a predominantly rural region covering an area of 3196 km², with approximately 179,000 inhabitants in 77 municipalities. This case study is interesting because it is located in Lombardy, a region where the distribution system is highly concentrated: in 2022 there were 8.3 sales points/1000 inhabitants, the lowest ratio among Italian regions (ISTAT data, Annual Report). Another interesting element is that in the province of Sondrio, the spread of large-scale distribution – which is quite intense – began with endogenous initiatives, which is a peculiar situation, as rural areas are generally ‘lands of conquest’ for operators with non-local roots (Twardzik, Heffner 2019). In addition, Livigno, a well-known high-mountain tourism resort (1816 m a.s.l.), is a customs-free area, which affects the structure of commerce and relationships among towns at various distances.

We assess the development of trade density in relation to the resident population between 2010 and 2022. This is important for two reasons. First, in the food sector, a low density or a density that decreases significantly over time is a sign of a ‘potential’ food desert (Fulfrost, Howard 2006, Bilková et al. 2018), which should be investigated in more detail while considering individual perceptions (Shaw 2006). On the other hand, changes in the density of shops reflect the rearrangement of relations between the valley floor and high-mountain towns, as well as between the mountains and plains (Perlik et al. 2001, Dematteis, Corrado 2021). Large sales outlets on the valley floor provide consumption opportunities similar to those found in more urbanised areas. At the same time, however, they erode the supply system in high-mountain settlements. The problem is exacerbated in the food retail trade, which is an essential service for people to live in a place.

The objective of this research is twofold: (1) to identify situations where commercial provisions are rarefied and assess their dynamics in the 2010–2022 period and (2) to outline the profile of municipalities without commercial activities and with a low selection density – ‘potential’ food deserts (Fulfrost, Howard 2006) – considering a few indicators related to social and economic aspects and integration in settlement networks.

This paper is structured as follows. First, we reflect on the need for rural and mountain areas to retain a minimal fabric of SGI – including those related to retail – as a measure of sustainability and territorial cohesion. We then focus on the province of Sondrio. After recalling the methodological aspects of the research and the main features of this area, we analyse the evolution of the commercial network in the 2010–2022 period and changing relationships between municipalities located at different altitudes. We also assess changes in the density of food retail options in relation to the population, looking for where the selection is rarefied or there is even commercial desertification in the strict sense. Finally, we analyse the profiles of municipalities in these critical situations.

Supporting the vitality and viability of rural communities is one of the principles listed in the Cork 2.0 Declaration (2016) for inspiring an innovative, integrated and inclusive European rural policy. Priority actions in this regard include improving access to SGI, i.e. a wide range of public services or services provided by private entities that are of public interest and are essential for daily life and social inclusion (EC 2011). The retail sale of staple goods (foodstuffs, medicines, etc.) is an integral part of these services. The long-term strategy for rural areas, approved by the European Commission in 2021, also emphasises the importance of SGI: “retail, doctors, pharmacies, banks, post offices, public transport, childcare facilities and schools are essential to rural life and jobs, as well as to ensure no-one and no place is left behind” (EC 2021: 6).

Poor accessibility to these services is one of the factors exposing territories to the risk of becoming inner peripheries (ESPON 2017). Despite policy makers’ efforts, rural areas remain disadvantaged compared to urbanised areas in terms of the provision of SGI, with an often considerable gap that grows over time (Kompil et al. 2019). Low population density, scattered settlements and the shrinking of small local catchment areas due to depopulation are all factors that hinder the efficient provision of SGI in rural areas, thus limiting the quality of life of local communities (OECD 2010). In Italy, the problem lies at the heart of the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI, Strategia Nazionale per le Aree Interne), which was launched in 2014 and financed again for the 2021–2027 period. The aim is to focus on remote areas and restore an adequate provision of public services (health, education and mobility) that underlie citizenship rights and which are seen as a prerequisite for curbing depopulation and nurturing new place-based development (Cotella, Vitale Brovarone 2020, Lucatelli et al. 2022).

Even in the narrow field of retailing, it is clear that the rural environment has peculiar aspects that make it difficult for businesses to survive (Paddison, Calderwood 2007). The European Commission itself, in its decisive action to support the competitiveness of the retail sector, notes that the greatest challenges in rural areas are not fierce competition, lack of space or high immovable property revenues (EESC 2019), which all apply to urban contexts. Rather, the limited size of local markets – with a small and often shrinking consumer population – and complex, expensive logistics weigh heavily. This squeezes profitability margins for retailers. Tourist flows might boost turnover, but they are often concentrated seasonally in a few resorts.

As with other SGI, the disappearance of shops is detrimental to small rural communities. The desire to do things, to create income, employment and revenue for local governments is lost. Places that serve as valuable community hubs and vehicles for local culture, crafts and local products are also lost. However, the progressive erosion of commercial services is not experienced in the same way by the whole local population. It is a greater problem for elderly and less mobile people who are more dependent on the local supply system (Marshall et al. 2018, Verma, Taegen 2019). Highly mobile people, on the other hand, react by increasing outshopping practices during their daily commutes (Shannon 2016). This, however, compresses the turnover of businesses where they live, and contributes to further depleting commerce to the detriment of weaker populations.

In mountain areas, problems with accessing SGI tend to be exacerbated, as the complex orography leads to many scattered settlements and considerably larger distances to essential services (ESPON 2019). There is great concern about the impact of climate change in mountain areas, but ensuring a good provision of SGI continues to be one of the biggest issues for the future of these areas (Sikorski et al. 2023). This is, therefore, an essential factor in determining an ability to retain the native population as well as the ability to attract ‘new mountain dwellers by choice’, i.e. people from various social backgrounds who choose to leave the chaotic metropolises in search of more sustainable lifestyles (Corrado et al. 2014).

Small mountain communities, however, generally rely on a lower service-to-population ratio than in the lowlands, especially for higher-ranking services (NORDREGIO 2004, ESPON 2018). Furthermore, there are major geographical imbalances, as services are concentrated in a few small and medium-sized towns mostly located in the valley floor and along the foothills (with respect to the Alps, see Di Gioia 2012, Bole et al. 2016, RSA 2022).

Rural and mountain areas are very much exposed to the risk of becoming food deserts owing to their structural features, especially when they fall within the radius of attraction of large commercial facilities (McEntee, Agyeman 2010, Twardzik, Heffner 2019, Neumeier, Kokorsch 2021, Trembošová et al. 2023). However, we should not generalise as rural areas are very diverse (OECD 2020) and paths of trade development depend on many factors, such as their remoteness in settlement networks, accessibility to large supply hubs and ability to attract various types of flows (labour, tourism), and these factors can be exploited by local retailers (Fertner et al. 2015, Szumilas, Pach 2021, Nilsson 2023).

New technologies may facilitate access to SGI in rural areas. In the past decade, there has been broad mobilisation in Europe and many developing countries in support of smart villages (Visvizi et al. 2019, Lakshmanan et al. 2021). This approach is important for keeping small mountain communities attractive and alive and creating mountain/plain exchange networks (SVP 2021). However, the persistent gap in digital infrastructure, use of new technologies and individual skills between rural and urban areas must be overcome.

In contrast to the extensive literature on food deserts, which is based on assessing the accessibility of food outlets using different methods (Jaskiewicz et al. 2016), we consider the density of commercial supplies – in terms of shops and sales areas – in relation to the resident population. As Fulfrost and Howard (2006) point out, the use of density indices is useful in identifying areas with reduced food retail options. Such areas are far more exposed to the risk of becoming food deserts, with important social and health implications.

To identify the sales activities in the province of Sondrio, we used data from the Lombardy Regional Trade Observatory referring to three types of commercial structures with size limits related to the demographic size of the municipalities: –

neighbourhood shops, with a surface area of up to 150 m² in municipalities with <10,000 inhabitants and up to 250 m² in municipalities with >10,000 inhabitants;

This classification is provided for by current commercial legislation (Italian Legislative Decree 114/1998), which also distinguishes just two product sectors: food and non-food. After selecting the data for the first sector, we calculated two indices of retail density for each municipality in the province of Sondrio at the end of the periods under examination (2010–2022): Densityindex 1 (DI1) = shops / 1000 inhabitants $${\rm{Density}}\,{\rm{index}}\,1\,{\rm{(DI1)}}\, = \,{\rm{shops}}\,/\,1000\,{\rm{inhabitants}}$$ Density index 2 (DI2) = sales area in square metres / 1000 inhabitants $${\rm{Density}}\,{\rm{index}}\,2\,{\rm{(DI2)}}\, = \,{\rm{sales}}\,{\rm{area}}{\rm{in}}{\rm{square}}{\rm{metres}}/1000{\rm{inhabitants}}$$

By comparing these data with data from the Lombardy Region, we identified municipalities with an over-and under-density of commercial activities. In particular, two groups of problem municipalities can be found: those with no commercial activities and those with low values for both density indices considered. As we will see, these are two particular situations within a broader case study.

We could have considered only the density of shops (DI1) similar to Bilková et al. (2018), for example, but in doing so, we would not have considered the different service capacities of the shops, which are related to their surface area, a fact captured by DI2.

The next step of the research concerned the profile of problem municipalities, which we outlined by analysing their insertion in settlement networks, their residential nature and the degree of mobility of the resident population. In addition, we considered the presence of certain local hardships – a large proportion of elderly people and scattered houses, a low density of cars and the absence of street markets. These are often considered priorities in Italian national and regional calls for tenders in favour of mountain municipalities with a dearth of commercial activities (UNCEM 2022).

The province of Sondrio, on the border between Italy and Switzerland, consists of two main valleys with a different orographic pattern that has conditioned landscapes, activities and development (Fig. 1): Valtellina, with a primarily west-east orientation, and Valchiavenna, with a north-south orientation. As a whole, the province is enclosed by a ring of mountains separating it from neighbouring areas; it is a mountain among mountains, with no direct outlet to the plains. Despite this settlement pattern, it is not a marginal, isolated area. It actually forms part of a polycentric urban region tied to Milan (Dematteis 2009) and its fortune is owed to its privileged position along the trade routes that historically connected the Lombardy plain to Europe.

Fig. 1.

Study area based on ISTAT data (population and households database).

The province consists of 77 municipalities located between 201 m and 1816 m a.s.l‥ These are mostly small towns, down to the limiting case of Pedesina, which, with only 35 inhabitants in 2022, was one of the smallest municipalities in Italy. Sondrio – the provincial capital – is the largest city (21,192 inhabitants in 2022), followed by Morbegno (12,227 inhabitants) and four other municipalities with 5000–10,000 inhabitants (Chiavenna, Cosio Valtellino, Livigno and Tirano).

The province of Sondrio is divided into five mountain communities with their respective main centres identified in the current Territorial Plan of the Lombardy Region: Valchiavenna (Chiavenna), Valtellina di Morbegno or Bassa Valtellina (Morbegno), Valtellina di Sondrio (Sondrio), Valtellina di Tirano (Tirano) and Alta Valtellina (Bormio and Livigno). The mountain community perimeter largely coincides with that of the local labour systems, which identify the de facto cities generated by daily home-work commutes.

The massive urbanisation of the valley floor is an important issue in the area. A rather high-density linear city has now formed in Valtellina between Morbegno and Sondrio along the ‘Stelvio route’ (state road no 38). There are also areas with isolation issues: Valchiavenna and Alta Valtellina are included among the target areas of SNAI for 2014–2020 and 2021–2027.

The province of Sondrio has a strong tradition of tourism, but with flows concentrated in just a few resorts, particularly Livigno and Bormio (Alta Valtellina)¹.

This research highlights two relevant pictures. The first result is the strengthening of many valley floor municipalities, especially in the Morbegno area, which was also helped by transformations in the retail sector. This is a long-term process that has, in recent years and unlike in the past, taken the form of an overall demographic contraction in the entire province. Looking specifically at the redistribution of local units and jobs in commerce, a twofold movement can be observed: movement towards the valley floor and decentralisation away from the main urban poles. This second driver is less clear in population dynamics and other economic activities. In addition to the lowlands (up to 300 m a.s.l.), several highland tourism resorts stand out, including Livigno. This generates a tripartition in which the intermediate mountains suffer the greatest difficulties, similar to the picture drawn in other work relating to the Alps (Bartaletti 2011, RSA 2022).

The second relevant picture concerns the food retail density map, which, like other SGI, is an essential service for the ‘good life’. As in more densely urbanised areas, the distribution system in the peripheral province of Sondrio is undergoing concentration. Between 2010 and 2022, larger sales outlets (large and medium-sized sales facilities) gained a lot of space, while small trade lost out. In terms of food supply density, progressive deterioration can be observed. Six municipalities currently have no food shops, while another 23 have fewer shops and sales areas in relation to the population compared to regional figures (low DI1 and DI2). Many local features could exacerbate the problems, such as a dispersed settlement arrangement and a high proportion of elderly people. Commercial rarefaction and desertification are found in areas that have long been considered problematic – such as Valchiavenna and Alta Valtellina, which are included in the SNAI – but they are also found in ‘strong’ areas – around Morbegno. This shows that the commercial dynamics follows specific paths that do not entirely overlap with those of other SGI.

The profile of municipalities affected by rarefaction and commercial desertification is interesting. It is often thought that the problems are greater in isolated areas (Karlsson 2012, Marshall et al. 2018), but in the province of Sondrio, they mainly affect residential municipalities open to external relations (low self-containment index) and close to the valley floor, where outshopping practices are easier, as Shannon (2016) also pointed out. High tourist flows do not always ‘support’ commerce, favouring an over-provision of the local supply. The non-central municipalities in Alta Valtellina – an area that attracts nearly 80% of tourists in the province of Sondrio – are emblematic. The importance of relations in settlement networks has emerged, in line with evidence from other studies (Fertner et al. 2015, Szumilas, Pach 2021, Nilsson 2023). In particular, proximity to the main mountain community centres and large commercial settlements leads to a decrease in the local supply and favours outshopping.

It would be useful to extend this research to other mountain areas to assess the dynamics of commercial rarefaction and desertification and understand whether those municipalities are similar to the municipalities in the province of Sondrio, since the mountains are a varied world that can host different or particular dynamics. Furthermore, our mapping could serve as the starting point for assessing whether the limited density of commercial food supplies or its complete absence is an actual problem for people, in relation to their varied mobility and socioeconomic status (Shaw 2006). Municipalities of type A and type C increased in the 2010–2022 period, but the results of our research only allow us to state that these are ‘potential’ food deserts (Fulfrost, Howard 2006).

The target areas of the SNAI include many mountain municipalities. This policy aims to rebuild a minimum fabric of useful public services to improve the quality of life in remote areas, reversing or at least limiting depopulation. Further investments in this direction are planned in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Commercial services, however, remain neglected. This should not be so, since commercial services are also important for the habitability of places, the production of relational goods and social and territorial cohesion. E-commerce may be believed to reduce the problems of limited supplies in rural areas, but this view is too optimistic. Its penetration in the food sector is still low – especially in Italy – and persisting problems related to the digital infrastructure and last-mile organisation are not easy to solve. It is good, therefore, to continue dealing with ‘physical’ commerce. Since the Italian regulatory revolution of 1998, there has been no lack of national and regional measures to support proximity trade in peripheral areas, but more systematic action is needed in this regard, both due to sustainability and territorial cohesion and in anticipation of adverse events that, as with the COVID-19 pandemic, may limit people’s mobility and force them to rely on local service networks.